Who is Florida-Citrus.Com, Inc.?
It is a corporation formed by Tom and Lynda Mack, that is based at Svrlinga Groves. The corporation is geared toward marketing Svrlinga Groves and Florida Citrus products.

What are we doing with the Farm?
We initially continued the operation my Uncle set up, grow oranges for sale to the processors strictly for juice. Although he had produced some fresh fruit in years past, recent freezes changed the type of citrus trees currently at the grove. Over the past two years we started developing other markets for what we produce at the grove as well as implementing some new technology to better protect and care for our trees. The wealth of information and support available to us is amazing. Couple it with some hard work and luck and we are off and running. We are adding new varieties of citrus to our grove as well as opening it up to the artist community as a site to work with our neighbors' Exotic Animals. There are several acres that are filled with native vegetation providing an alluring wilderness backdrop. We are also considering opening the farm to the public for general tours and vacations. More on that later and we welcome your email comments if you would be interested in visiting.

What happens at the farm?
Well, it is Florida, so we sweat a lot in the summer and sometimes freeze our backsides on a few cold winter nights. That is the "cliff notes" version. What we also do is care for the trees and fruit, worry about production and prices, and have a lot of fun doing it. We count bugs, monitor soil moisture, prune off the dead wood, keep the weeds away from the citrus trees, make sure the trees get fed on a regular basis, harvest the crop and send it to folks who want it. We also have a stewardship responsibility to the land and all the creatures who inhabit it. We have areas set aside for the native creatures to live in and they traverse the grove from time to time. Some even live in the grove full time. We work with the USDA Soil Conservation Program in their wildlife habitat program as participants in the program, native wildflowers, and seedbeds for quail and dove. We were recently awarded our areas' Conservationist of the Year due to our efforts to better integrate our grove with the native wildlife populations.

What are we changing?
Not much in some respects. We decided to get back to basics, grow a great fruit and deliver it straight to the consumer, either as fresh fruit or fresh squeezed (squoze as Lynda says it), plus deliver fantastic gift fruit to some of our colleagues. The Internet became a tremendous asset in getting what we do exposed to folks like you.

We are adding on to the barn and installing a fruit washing, sizing, and squeezing operation. Why? It allows us to send fresh fruit directly to the public either at the grove or our roadside stand, plus we can produce a fresh squoze juice ready for your refrigerator. (Yes, "squoze" really is a legitimate citrus word.) We want to provide you with farm fresh fruit and juice anytime and anywhere you want it. This is just a continuation of what my grandparents started with some improvements using current trends and technology.

What about the other stuff on your site?
Once we started down the Internet road, we found all these other items that would fit. Florida gifts candies, honey, cakes, cookies, and nuts. We decided to become the on-line Florida Citrus gift store.

Why are we doing this?
Well, very simply to make a living. Plus, it really is fun and challenging.